New hardware to have Intergrated web cams?

addison

If the rumours are correct that Apple intends to add streaming connections for .mac holders as part of the package. Then I suspect that we may see an option to buy new LCD screens with intergrated cameras similar to the one built into the small Sony Vaio.



It would be a small step to add a video conferencing facility via iChat. We have already got screens on the G4 iMac with built in microphones.



[ 07-31-2002: Message edited by: Addison ]</p>

trevorm

I could't imagine this sort of thing. I really dont think that Video confrencing is that popular and frankly not many people would bother over the std 56K connection! I have 512Kb DSL and I wouldnt even bother with it!

addison

MPEG4 over 64k isdn is supprisingly good. I think MPEG4 opens a lot of possibilities.

nebagakid

Seems tacky and Apple would not do it, not at least yet. I mean, putting built-in mikes are good because they comply with the disabilities measures they take. But no where does it say video is necessary <img src="graemlins/smokin.gif" border="0" alt="[Chilling]" />

michael grey

Actually, videoconferencing is becoming very popular...among teens. I've helped two friends who have teens set up their iMacs and both purchased a webcam for video conferencing.



I've said before, I'd like to see Apple market a webcam/video-con package that is as easy to use as all the iApps, although I don't see Apple integrating webcams into their LCDs. I still think they design/build those for prosumers.

jpf

I'm telling you, this whole Instant Message took off like crazing. To me, its just an IRC channel, but Jezz, everybody thinks its the greatest thing. These teens are addicted to IM stuff.



Put a camera, iChat, quicktime, mpeg and Apple's killer team of building great products, man its not that far off from being real. Microsoft has embed the IM and media player crap into their OSes now. It seems like the next logical step to me.

matsu

I've worked with two people here at the university who used a cheapie web-cam setup to talk to their families back home. Neat stuff when it works.



One problem with the integrated CCD, is that it's too damned close to the screen. Everybody you see through one has that stunned look from looking right into the CCD/screen coupled to a very unflattering aura of blue-ish CRT light. I think people look better if the camera is position a little further away and above the monitor.



OTOH, having it built in is very convenient especially for laptop users.

gwhylow

[quote]Originally posted by trevorM:

<strong>I could't imagine this sort of thing. I really dont think that Video confrencing is that popular and frankly not many people would bother over the std 56K connection! I have 512Kb DSL and I wouldnt even bother with it!</strong><hr></blockquote>



Well, i have used video chat for many years now and have used it on 56k and high speed cable connection. it works great on both types of connection. yes, much better on highspeed. i am able to conference with friends in china and my other family members in the states. it is great and not only teens are using this technology. actually, all the times i have used the various products for video chat, i have yet to see a teen in any of the rooms. some software is a direct connection to the single person and others supply connections to rooms of people. i and many others enjoy this technology. also, i own a sony picturebook computer with a built-in camera and it is really great. i use video conferencing on the apple and the pc but i get more access to pc software for this purpose. it is sometimes hard to get a good software package that will work with both pc and mac...well, at least it was in the past. anyway, i think it's great.

jasonpp

My company sells high end corporate vid confrencing solutions as part of it's portfolio, and let me say it's fantastic. Now this is using special a codec that's very specific, but I think Apple can open up the business space by offering a easy to use video colaboration/IM/corporate email and document management.



Convergence has been the buzz word in the corporate world, and we're seeing 100% of our products and solutions going in that direction.



I already get my voicemail in outlook as a gsm voice attachement.. it's amazing, a 5 minute message is &lt;300k.

flashgordon

In one of the developer builds of Jaguar there were icons in iChat for sending streaming media of iChat. Maybe Stevo is gonna Appleize it and make teleconferencing easy and dependable.

addison

To make mac the digital hub, I think the camera needs to be incorporated in the screen.I think it would be standard on iMacs and eMacs and an OPTION on one of the Powermac screens.



The cost of these low resolution cameras must be pretty low as Sony have put one in their latest CLIE.



:cool:

jasonpp

I think this is relevent



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escher

Can anybody recommend a good video conferencing software package that works across platforms, i.e. to conference between a Mac and a PC? I bought an iRez Kritter USB years ago but never actually used it. (I know there are no OS X drivers for the Kritter yet.)



Escher

welcome to darwin

While I agree that including easy to use video conferencing software with OS X would be a wonderful idea. I think that the calls for the hardware to be integrated are ignoring the basic idea of the digital hub.



When I've seen it described, it's a bunch of separate devices attached to a Mac. Each has value on its own, but when plugged into the Mac, the value of both the device and the base computer both increase.



Any kind of camera needs to be mobile. The iMac's adjustable LCD somewhat addresses this, but it's still less dynamic than a small handheld camera attached via a Firewire or USB cable.



So I say leave the camera separate, and if it's to be made by Apple, give it some capability to distinguish it from the legions of other such devices. Superior design is almost certain, but I think it would need something else to make it preferable to other devices.

shawnpatrickjoyce

Can you use a handheld DV camera to videoconference as well?

gwhylow

[quote]Originally posted by Escher:

<strong>Can anybody recommend a good video conferencing software package that works across platforms, i.e. to conference between a Mac and a PC? I bought an iRez Kritter USB years ago but never actually used it. (I know there are no OS X drivers for the Kritter yet.)



Escher</strong><hr></blockquote>



i currently use video link pro. it seems to work well and i use it on the apple computer. my friends in china download the pc version and we are able to chat with rather clear video and great sound. i had a Kritter cam but it didn't work with the video link pro. video link pro does provide a list of camera that work. some kritter cams work and others don't. anyway, i use my dv camera from sony. it works best and can be put on a small tri-pod. i have used other software for video conference such as CU CMe or something of that type of name by white pines software. it is more of a group chat video link, unless they have made some changes. it worked well too and worked cross platform. intel create and share is great for the pc but will not work on the mac. i hope this has helped some. i do not know if video link pro will work on osx yet. i have used it on os 9. i am concerned because i will be switching to osx for all my computing after the release of jaguar. so i hope video link pro will change soon or i will be forced to use the pc...which i hate.

eugene

QT Broadcaster has about 5 seconds of delay so conversations would be tedious. You'd also be limited to only 1 recipient if you're on a modem, ISDN, or something not so fast.

jasonpp

Why can't Apple make a hard drive based version of this!



<a href="http://www.dpreview.com/news/0207/02073101sonyip220k.asp"; target="_blank">http://www.dpreview.com/news/0207/02073101sonyip220k.asp</a>;



<a href="http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Product/Cam/Dcr-ip220k/index.html"; target="_blank">http://www.jp.sonystyle.com/Product/Cam/Dcr-ip220k/index.html</a>;

blizaine

[quote]Originally posted by gwhylow:

<strong>



i currently use video link pro. it seems to work well and i use it on the apple computer. my friends in china download the pc version and we are able to chat with rather clear video and great sound. i had a Kritter cam but it didn't work with the video link pro. video link pro does provide a list of camera that work. some kritter cams work and others don't. anyway, i use my dv camera from sony. it works best and can be put on a small tri-pod. i have used other software for video conference such as CU CMe or something of that type of name by white pines software. it is more of a group chat video link, unless they have made some changes. it worked well too and worked cross platform. intel create and share is great for the pc but will not work on the mac. i hope this has helped some. i do not know if video link pro will work on osx yet. i have used it on os 9. i am concerned because i will be switching to osx for all my computing after the release of jaguar. so i hope video link pro will change soon or i will be forced to use the pc...which i hate.</strong><hr></blockquote>



Video Link Pro is also good because it is compatible with NetMeeting on Windows. As far as I know, it is the only Mac Video Conferencing app that works with NetMeeting.

welcome to darwin

On thinking more about this, it occurs to me that the market for consumers is pretty well saturated with cheap products.



So what if they target the business world instead? Getting a little wild, what if several small, relatively cheap camers were placed around a disk-shaped device? The individual images could be composited into a single 360 degree environment, and then streamed to another such device over a high bandwidth connection.



Groups on both sides could then pan around a conference room and address everyone there directly without requiring moving parts in the device itself.



Or does something like this already exist elsewhere?

gobble gobble

[quote]Originally posted by Blizaine:

<strong>



Video Link Pro is also good because it is compatible with NetMeeting on Windows. As far as I know, it is the only Mac Video Conferencing app that works with NetMeeting.</strong><hr></blockquote>



Isn't Video Link Pro in OS 9 only? I thought that the only video conference software for OS X was ISPQ. ISPQ has both Mac OS X and PC versions as well, but is not NetMeeting compatible.